The Siege of Kobane

The Siege of Kobane was hurled by the Islamic State (also known as ISIL or ISIS) fighters on 16 September 2014, in order to capture the town of Kobane in northern Syria. By the first quarter of October 2014, ISIS was achieved in capturing more than 350 Kurdish villages and towns within the locality of Kobane making a flood of some 300,000 displaced Kurdish, most of who escaped across the border into Turkey. At the Turkish-Syrian border hundreds thousands of refugees were waiting to figure out where they can find a safe shelter. There were hundreds of cars and buses jam-packed with people, predominantly women and children, who had fled Kobane and traveled north. Some have carried livestock with them in the hope that they can soon return to the farmlands they quickly evacuated, an increasingly lonely desire. People who had crossed here were anxious about their families who were stuck on that small strip of land between Kobane and Turkish border. There were constant bombing, a trail of smoke at the sky. I saw men, women and children carrying or dragging everything they could manage. Even a lot of people were carrying their doves in a big sack and also cages of their pet birds. Pregnant women were carrying suitcases. In some cases, children were pulling bags almost as big as themselves. Dust was everywhere, and a feel of misery was tangible in the air. Many sleeps inside family cars parked next to the barb wire border fence and many of these people had spent the past nights sleeping in open fields before they could cross the border.